Project Blogs - Fiji

Our volunteers have been taking regular trips down to the mangrove nursery to plant and harvest Samoan and Stilted mangrove propagules (saplings). Mangroves are incredibly important ecosystems providing many services to humans and the environment. The salt-tolerant trees have large exposed roots which act as havens for juvenile fish, boosting biodiversity and supporting fish populations.

Groups of volunteers regularly set off down the hill with empty bags to fill with rubbish littered or washed-up on the shore. After an hour or so in the sun, we had only managed to travel about 100m before all the bags were full of rubbish

Fiji is a country made up of approximately 330 islands, with a rich cultural diversity and connection to the land. The native Fijian’s “I-Taukei” have a long detailed history both in terms of events and artistic depth. The mixture of the indentured laborers makes the history and documentation of this history extremely vital to the progress of Fiji.

If you want to learn even more Fijian words, locals here are very welcoming and love to teach foreigners about their local language! Don’t hesitate to ask around and improve your local vocabulary! Here are a few local words that will be useful for your stay in Fiji.

The Fiji Museum is located in a mall 2-storey house in a park near the center of the city. The artifacts and collections presented here are not very huge and overwhelming, but they are all interesting and has played a significant part in the rich culture of Suva.

How fresh are the fruits and vegetables you buy at home and how far must you travel to find perfectly ripe ingredients for your cooking? Has it been pre-packaged and shipped from afar? Or has it been handpicked almost on your doorstep?

Until recently, mangroves were considered smelly, muddy, mosquito infested swamps and their removal was seen as a sign of progress. Today, many realize and appreciate the roles mangroves play in sustaining our ecosystem. Mangroves are all types of trees that have adapted to living in the sea. They are found growing in-between land and sea and are regularly inundated by tides.

Tunicates are also known as ascidians or sea squirts. They have a simple structure where they create a current through their siphons to bring water into their body cavity. There, they collect the little pieces of plankton or detritus – decaying organic matter from the water in a mucus net and push out the left over water.